Naming Evil

SOME of Britain’s most influential imams have condemned British Muslims fighting alongside Isis extremists in Iraq and Syria.

They have issued a fatwa, or religious decree, describing them as “heretics”.

The fatwa ”religiously prohibits” would-be British jihadists from joining “oppressive and tyrannical” Isis, also known as Islamic State. The imams order all Muslims to oppose Isis’s “poisonous ideology” , especially when it is promoted within Britain.

The fatwa, the first of its kind issued by British Muslim scholars, follows the elevation of Britain’s terror threat from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is “highly likely”.

What is going on in the Middle East is a political and, as a consequence of the history, customs, and culture of the region, religious struggle among Muslims. Many Muslims in the West have understandably wanted to maintain a low profile.

There are categories of evil so vile that they call for condemnation and ISIS certainly falls into one of them. It cannot be allowed to be thought a legitimate expression of political or religious action. What is it that Edmund Burke said?

I assume you saw that the Saudi Grand Mufti also denounced ISIS and that the Saudis are jailing people for supporting them. While this falls more under the “Holy Sh#t, we financed these guys and they are a lot worse than we knew, and they might come after us” category rather than good men speaking out, I will take it.